Srdce mesta/Core of the city, Bratislava

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Favorite thing: I visited Bratislava in wintertime just after christmas. I highly recommend taking a stroll around the Old Town in darkness. Most of the squares and historic buildings (e.g. St. Martin's Cathedral or the Castle) are beautifully illuminated.

Apart from that, the view from Castle Hill to the Novy Most Bridge and the Old Town is magnificient by night.

Favorite thing: You can find various architectural styles in and around the city centre (stred mesta) of Bratislava. The castle was built in Gothic style, but both Renaissance and Baroque reconstructions took place.

Other styles include Gothic (St. Martin's Cathedral), Rococo (Grassalkovich Palace), Baroque (Old Town Hall) and Neorenaissance (Slovak National Theatre).
So keep your eyes open when wandering through the streets of Bratislava.

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Favorite thing: Most tourists take in the nobleness of Michael’s Gate but fail to notice the compass placed in the cobbles beneath the gate itself. A VirtualTourist, however, will take heed and smile as past / future destinations are silently checked against those listed in the ring.

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Favorite thing: Old town is a pedestrian area, with lovely colourful facades, broad squares (especially the main square), but also narrow, charming streets.
It's a typical Austrohungarian architecture style of the city.

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Favorite thing: Some nice pictures taken on random streets at various streets of Bratislava at various hours of the day.

Fondest memory: There were tulips, tulips and more tulips all across the city during my trip to this beautiful city.

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Favorite thing: The town hall of Bratislava is the nice 13th century white building with red roof and with some very nice color ceramic tiles - white, red and blue - on the attic windows. But the most spectacular feature - of the building and of the entire main square - is the 14th century tower - striking yellow and contrasting with the main building.

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Favorite thing: The main square is of course the central point of the city and where everybody starts the tour. On January 2nd the square was empty - though not really, there were small groups or just pairs. I even heard some Romanians there. Remember also the temperature was like minus 10 degrees (Celsius).

The pavement and the buildings around the square seemed recently renovated. Probably just one or two years ago (Slovakians on VT please correct me if I'm wrong).

Somewhat all the combination makes this a nice main square, not so big as others - like the one in Prague by example - but it has it's own charm. Standing in the middle of the square it sticks to your memory as Bratislava and nowhere else.

Favorite thing: I don't know if this the actual English term for this but we called it literally the rose wind, the sign that shows you north pole, south pole and all sort of directions and distances.

This is the wind rose in Bratislava, cleverly mounted in the pavement just below a passage under a clock tower.

Favorite thing: found the people sometimes friendly.went 2 the irish pub, NEVER again bouncers Very intimidating wearing army type gear and general bullies. Would go 2 the smaller bars,where the food and drink were well priced and really tasty.

Fondest memory: my best thought about bratislava was leaving.

Favorite thing: Michael's gate is the focal point of the street which bears the same name. It stands out very clearly though, its 59 metre -high tower and copper statue of St Michael,towering above the neighbouring buildings.This is one of four original gates which were situated along the ramparts of the town. These medieval ramparts were of course wooden and only small fragmnets of them still survive. Michael's is the only one of the four gates which survived and it's a really impressive mixture of Gothic and Baroque architectural features.

The gate now houses a museum which mainly features medieval weapons and information about the town fortifications. This entire street is one of the most beautiful in the old town, with a string of baroque palaces, many of them now part of the university.

The guide on the train tour told us that local students have a custom regarding Michael's Gate. Apparently it is bad luck to speak as you go through it and the penalty is that you will fail your exams. True ? I don't know, I'm just a gullible tourist who believes everything she's told.